Alfred Hitchcock’s taut thriller about a young motel owner’s obsession with a beautiful bank secretary initially received mixed reviews. But outstanding box office returns prompted a re-review, which was overwhelmingly positive and led to four Academy Award nominations. Psycho is now considered one of Hitchcock's best films and is highly praised as a work of cinematic art by international critics.

The movie in large part was made because Hitchcock was fed up with the big-budget, star-studded movies he had recently been making and wanted to experiment with the more efficient, sparser style of television filmmaking. Indeed, he ultimately used a crew consisting mostly of TV veterans and hired actors less well known than those he usually used.

One reason that he shot the movie in black and white was he thought it would be too gory in color. But the main reason was that he wanted to make the film as inexpensively as possible ($800,000). He also wondered if so many bad, inexpensively made, b/w "B" movies did so well at the box office, what would happen if a really good, inexpensively made, b/w movie was made.

Unrated | 1960 Runtime: 109 Minutes

The Strand's modern interior and digital projection system are all the more impressive given the theater's old-school exterior:

Did I mention: Tickets are $5.00? When was the last time you watched a movie from the balcony?